The Strategic Leadership Intensive Program

FIPA members

Pre/Requisites / Entry Requirements

To enter the program, members must complete a Recognition of Prior Learning (RPL) process. This ensures participants have the necessary skills and experience to succeed in the program.

What to Submit

You may provide your RPL evidence in one of the following formats:

• Curriculum Vitae (CV/Resume): outlining your professional experience, roles, responsibilities, and achievements relevant to practice.
• Supporting Documentation: where applicable, include qualifications, professional development certificates, or evidence of significant practice-based projects.
• Optional Phone Interview: If preferred, members may opt for a short interview (20–30 minutes) with the assessment panel to discuss their experience in place of or in addition to a written CV.

How to Submit

• Submit your CV and documents via the online portal (preferred), or email them directly to the designated program administrator.
• Indicate if you wish to have a phone interview as part of your assessment.

Notification

• You will receive a formal outcome email advising whether your RPL has been accepted and if you are eligible to register for the program.
• If additional information is required, the team will contact you directly.

To ensure participants gain the most value from the program, applicants should meet the following entry requirements:

• Membership Status: Preferably a Fellow of the Institute of Public Accountants (FIPA).
• Professional Experience: At least 5 years’ experience in a senior role, including responsibility for leading teams.
• Client and Stakeholder Engagement: Demonstrated experience in working directly with clients, customers, staff, and other key stakeholders.
• Decision-Making Authority: A proven track record of making strategic or operational decisions within a business or professional practice.
• Problem-Solving Capability: Evidence of the ability to identify, analyse, and solve complex professional and business problems.

Facilitator Bio

Dr Robert Kay is the Managing Director of Incept Labs and a founding Director of RiPLTec.

His career has moved continuously between industry and academia. He was formerly the Head of Strategic Innovation at Westpac Banking Corporation; a Senior Lecturer in Information Systems and Organisational Development at the University of Technology, Sydney, and a research analyst at Bovis Lend Lease. Establishing Incept Labs in 2008, Robert has been commissioned to undertake multiple studies of senior leaders, covering topics of organisational resilience, innovation, and corporate governance. The largest of these involved interviews with Chairs of 100 organisations around Australia for the Australian Institute of Company Directors.

Ultimately, however, his passion is in education. His early research focused on experiential curriculum design for the development of 21st Century learning and he has been involved in numerous evaluations of school transformation and professional development programs across South Australia, Victoria, the Northern Territory and Malaysia, including multiple studies of Indigenous education. This work has coincided with extensive research on the development of scalable soft skill assessment methods, in partnership with the UN Economic Social Commission Asia Pacific (UNESCAP) and Monash University that is ongoing.

Robert holds a first class honours in curriculum development and worldview change, whilst his PhD involved the application of biological systems theory to improving learning and resilience in organisations.